Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Serious Eating And Drinking

With only a few navigational snags (I can't believe how patient Dave was with "Maggie" and her snippy "recalculating route" nonsense as she tried to take us down a wrong way street and dump us in a reservoir, and then took us across town TWICE during rush hour) we made it back, ditched the rental car, napped, showered and headed out to our Big Dinner at Michelin-starred CincSentits. We walked in and it was then I realized my mistake with 24 hour time. The place was almost empty. Our hostess Amelia Artal (one of the two owners, along with her brother chef Jordi) was super kind and accommodating despite my missing our reservation by TWO HOURS. Duh. The entire meal was perfection--flawless service, expert wine pairings, and the food...oh, the food! They prepare modern Catalunyan cuisine with a perfect balance of local ingredients, molecular gastronomy, and traditional flavors. We opted for the house selected wine pairings which were spot on. Here's my bad handwriting version of the menu. I'm hoping we get an emailed copy soon!

We were tickled. Thoroughly. We presented the owners with a bottle of Barboursville Octagon 8th as a thank you for such a perfect experience.

Of course, being the TOTAL GLUTTONS that we are, that just got us started for the evening (it was after all only midnight), so we asked the wine steward for a good after dinner drink location. He recommended "Dry Martini" a few blocks up. Talk about a gin joint--old school white-suited bar chefs with homemade bitters and unshakable (har) professionalism. I opted for the classics (different classic martinis with different small batch gins--one Brit London Dry that I LOVED ("Bulldog"), and one from Philly ("Blue Coat"). The former was more citrusy and floral but not delicate, the latter spicier and aromatic but balanced like Plymouth. Dave went all out and got a Singapore sling and something else I lost track of, maybe more Orujo from PazodeSenorans, since there is a random picture of that in my iPhone...